The present invention relates generally to methods and devices for creating and transferring coils preparatory to placing those coils in magnetic cores, and more particularly to improvements in such methods and devices which facilitate the transfer of those coils from coil forms to coil placer tooling and the subsequent holding of those coils in the proper position within the coil placer tooling until those coils are inserted in the cores.
A number of machines have been devised for inserting prewound coils as well as, optionally, insulating wedges into slotted magnetic stator cores. Illustrative of such machines are the Hill U.S. Pat. No. 3,324,536 and Walker et al, U.S. Pat. No. 3,402,462. Coil placing machines of this type typically include a plurality of generally parallel extending finger elements for supporting coils and a magnetic core into which the coils are to be placed along with a plurality of wedge guides adjacent portions of the finger elements for engaging the magnetic core. A stripper is reciprocable along finger elements to engage and move the coils into the magnetic core and insulating wedge push rods are reciprocable along the wedge guides to engage and force insulating wedges into the core slots radially inwardly of the coils.
Frequently, coil placing machines of the above-referenced type form a part only of a more complex coil winding and placing device as illustrated for example by U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,625,261 and 3,828,830 both to Hill et al as well as co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 294,210, filed Aug. 17, 1981, in the name of Witwer, et al, and co-pending application Ser. No. 429,470, filed Sep. 30, 1982, in the names of Witwer and Walker, entitled "Method and Apparatus for Placing Coils and Intermediate Insulators in Cores.
The winding station or portion of such complex coil winding and placing devices may, for example, take the form illustrated generally in U.S. Pat. No. 3,672,040 to Arnold wherein a wire dispensing flyer revolves about a coil form in a fixed path defining a wire dispensing plane with coil placer tooling engaging the coil form and the coil form being stepped and moveable in increments relative to the flyer to form coils of varying size and with the wire migrating along the coil form and into the coil placer tooling while further coil turns are being formed on the coil form. In some cases, difficulty in transferring all the coil turns from the form to the placer tooling in this last-mentioned type arrangement is experienced and further maintaining the coils in proper position within the placer tooling until those coils are transferred to a stator core is sometimes difficult.
Other types of coil generating devices are known where the complete set of coils for at least one pole of a dynamoelectric machine stator and frequently for all poles of such a machine are wound about coil forms and then the coil forms are appropriately mated with either a coil transfer device or coil placer tooling, whereupon the coil form or forms are collapsed somewhat to facilitate the transfer of the wound coils from the forms to the coil receiving mechanism. Systems of the type where the coil is completely wound and then transferred are illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,415,292; 3,508,316; 3,628,238; and 3,628,575. While collapsing of the coil form is commonplace in this last-mentioned type arrangement, it has not heretofore been attempted in winding arrangements where coils are being generated at the same time as previously generated winding turns are being transferred to a coil receiving device.
While the first commercial embodiment of the present invention is presently contemplated as being a part of a somewhat simplified version of the first-mentioned Witwer et al machine relating primarily to the winding station and the last-mentioned Witwer and Walker application relating primarily to the coil inserting station, the principles and techniques of the present invention are applicable to a wide variety of coil placing devices of the types referred to above as well as others. Reference may be had to any of the aforementioned patents for details of the machine operation generally.